ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Saturday confirmed that the visa applications of convicted Indian spy Kulbhusan Jadhav’s mother and wife were being processed.

“Visa applications of mother and wife of Commander Jadhav received for their visit on humanitarian grounds. Being processed,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal tweeted on Saturday.

Sources had earlier said that the FO, on Thursday, issued directives to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to issue visas to Jadhav’s wife and mother. The FO has decided to provide maximum security to Jadhav’s family during their stay in Pakistan, sources added.

The Indian high commissioner in Pakistan will be allowed to accompany Jadhav’s family during the meeting.

FO Spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal in his press briefing on December 8 confirmed that Pakistan has allowed and scheduled the meeting for December 25.

Jadhav, alias Hussein Mubarak Patel, was arrested on March 3, 2016, through a counter-intelligence operation from Mashkel area of Balochistan for his involvement in espionage and sabotage actives in Pakistan. The spy, who is an on-duty officer in the Indian Navy, confessed to his crimes in a recorded video statement televised by the army last year following his arrest.

After his trial in a military court, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa confirmed the death sentence awarded by the Field General Court Martial under the Pakistan Army Act. In April 2016, Pakistan sentenced the RAW agent to death for carrying out espionage and sabotage activities in Balochistan and Karachi.

However, India approached the International Court of Justice over the matter earlier this year which then stayed Jadhav’s death sentence until proceedings are completed in the world court.